Giant Snail Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGCDHIJKLMNOPQR STUVWXYZCTA2B2WHWC2D 2E2F2| The rain has stopped The waterfall will roar like that all | A |
| night I have come out to take a walk and feed My body foot | B |
| that is is wet and cold and covered with sharp gravel It is | C |
| white the size of a dinner plate I have set myself a goal a | D |
| certain rock but it may well be dawn before I get there | E |
| Although I move ghostlike and my floating edges barely graze | F |
| the ground I am heavy heavy heavy My white muscles are | G |
| already tired I give the impression of mysterious ease but it is | C |
| only with the greatest effort of my will that I can rise above the | D |
| smallest stones and sticks And I must not let myself be dis | H |
| tracted by those rough spears of grass Don't touch them Draw | I |
| back Withdrawal is always best | J |
| The rain has stopped The waterfall makes such a noise And | K |
| what if I fall over it The mountains of black rock give off such | L |
| clouds of steam Shiny streamers are hanging down their sides | M |
| When this occurs we have a saying that the Snail Gods have | N |
| come down in haste I could never descend such steep escarp | O |
| ments much less dream of climbing them | P |
| That toad was too big too like me His eyes beseeched my | Q |
| love Our proportions horrify our neighbors | R |
| Rest a minute relax Flattened to the ground my body is like | S |
| a pallid decomposing leaf What's that tapping on my shell | T |
| Nothing Let's go on | U |
| My sides move in rhythmic waves just off the ground from | V |
| front to back the wake of a ship wax white water or a slowly | W |
| melting floe I am cold cold cold as ice My blind white bull's | X |
| head was a Cretan scare head degenerate my four horns that | Y |
| can't attack The sides of my mouth are now my hands They | Z |
| press the earth and suck it hard Ah but I know my shell is | C |
| beautiful and high and glazed and shining I know it well | T |
| although I have not seen it Its curled white lip is of the finest | A2 |
| enamel Inside it is as smooth as silk and I I fill it to perfection | B2 |
| My wide wake shines now it is growing dark I leave a lovely | W |
| opalescent ribbon I know this | H |
| But O I am too big I feel it Pity me | W |
| If and when I reach the rock I shall go into a certain crack | C2 |
| there for the night The waterfall below will vibrate through | D2 |
| my shell and body all night long In that steady pulsing I can | E2 |
| rest All night I shall be like a sleeping ear | F2 |
Elizabeth Bishop
(1)
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